For the verb translated take refuge, see comments at 2.12; most translations in English are like Revised Standard Version (see also 31.1; 71.1). The interrogative how? is a rebuke: “How dare you…?” or, as Good News Translation, “How foolish of you!” The psalmist knew that his safety lay in trusting Yahweh, not in running away, as his friends (you) had suggested. Line b in verse 1 may be taken as an exclamation, as in Good News Translation, or as a question, as in Revised Standard Version. In some languages the exclamatory force will require a strong statement; for example, “You are very wrong when you say to me.” In some languages you of line b is inappropriate, since no antecedent has been introduced as a referent. One may then say “How foolish my friends are to advise me and say….”

To me is in Hebrew “to my nefesh” (see discussion at 3.2).

The last part of verse 1 in the Masoretic text is “fly (imperative, second person singular) to your (plural) mountain, bird.” The second person singular form is the qere, supported by ancient versions and many Hebrew manuscripts; the ketiv is the second person plural. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the qere, “you (singular) flee,” and takes the singular “bird” to be collective, meaning “birds.” The possessive pronominal suffix “your” with “mountain” is plural: “your (plural) mountain.” So Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends the following translation: “flee (imperative plural) to your mountains, birds.” But in the context this doesn’t make much sense, since this command is directed to the psalmist. Most translations, like Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, follow the ancient versions, making a slight change in the Hebrew text.

In some languages the simile Flee like a bird may not suggest the elements of silence and speed. In such cases it will be better to say “Escape silently to the mountains as a bird flies.”

For lo in verse 2a, Revised Standard Version, is an obsolete English phrase. The Hebrew phrase introduces the reason for the preceding command: “You must do this because….” Some, like New International Version and New Jerusalem Bible, try to retain the Hebrew by translating “For look,” but this is not a natural expression in English.

The threats of the wicked are likened to the actions of hunters, who prepare to shoot their arrows at animals (see 7.12). The figure here is quite elaborate: they bend their bows, they have fitted the arrows to the bowstring, in order to shoot at the upright in heart. The bending of the bow in Revised Standard Version refers to stringing the bow, readying it for shooting. In order to fit the string onto the bow, the string was first attached to one end of the bow. Then, with that end of the bow on the ground, the hunter pressed his foot against the lower part of the bow, to bend it so that he could slip the other end of the string over the upper notched end of the bow. When the bent bow was released, the string was pulled tight. In order to avoid giving the impression that bend the bow meant drawing or pulling back the string with fitted arrow, it may be necessary to say, for example, “the wicked string their bows” or “wicked people bend their bows to string them.” Good News Translation does not speak of bending the bow but says “have drawn their bows,” which refers to tensing the bow with fitted arrow. The psalmist is using here a three-clause parallelism which is somewhat of a narrative, in that it depicts a process; they first string the bow, fit the arrow to it, and then shoot. In languages in which this process is commonly known, no problem should arise. However, in cases where the translator must use long, descriptive phrases to describe the process, the images run the risk of being obscure and so emphasized that the reader may lose track of their relation to the rest of the poem. In languages in which bow and arrow are unknown, the translator may have to supply an equivalent weapon. If no such figure is available, the translator will have to say something like “wicked people are always ready to secretly harm good people” or “evil people are always waiting in hiding to injure good people.”

In the dark: the wicked, hiding in a dark place (Dahood “ambush”), shoot their arrows at “good men” (literally upright in heart, as in 7.10). The word translated upright is used often in Psalms of pious, godly, law-abiding people.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .